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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24839884">Can y Llong (The Ship's Song)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/protisvit/pseuds/protisvit'>protisvit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works &amp; Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Elwing and Eärendil were in effect traumatised children too young to be parents, Elwing knows this isn't going to end well, Gen, Introspection, Self-Doubt, Songfic, a short 4 am inspiration I needed to write down, but that is war, if you want to call it that</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:40:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>507</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24839884</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/protisvit/pseuds/protisvit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Once again Eärendil sails and once again Elwing waits. </p><p>Inspired by Gwyneth Glyn's "Can y Llong (The Ship's Song)".</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eärendil/Elwing (Tolkien)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Can y Llong (The Ship's Song)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>So gentle is the sail of the ship<br/>
Yet my heart is heavy, so, so heavy<br/>
She sinks slowly beneath the waves<br/>
So gentle is the sail of the ship<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Heavy rests my heirloom on my chest. Another weight on my heart and not the most beautiful.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Your ship drifts from the shore and you with her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Can you see me disappear behind the waves?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Gently, gently like the slow descend of drowning.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Farwell, farewell my fond lover<br/>
These tears are so easy and these words so frail<br/>
I will always love you, wherever I am<br/>
Farwell, farewell my fond lover<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I have shed tears enough, I am not the sea.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My voice is quiet, I cannot roar like the waves.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But I can love you with a true heart and warm arms.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>This skill is only mine, and only yours to take if you will.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>When will you return to me?<br/>
When will your foolish girl<br/>
Next hold you in her arms?<br/>
When will you return to me?<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>A mother of two babes I am and a babe myself, a girl even in our years.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Were we foolish, my love? Is this regret? To turn away from me and seek solace in the arms of your mistress the sea?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I hope you have not yet found her embrace, for her arms are cold and her kiss will steal your breath.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I have nowhere to flee so I shall wait for your return instead.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>That small white ship is fading away<br/>
These fears are ever increasing<br/>
And the gate of night is starting to shut<br/>
And that small white ship is fading away<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I wonder if this is to be my fate. To lose and lose until all that is left to lose is myself.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The darkness does not frighten me, for her silence is calm and her mantle is my hiding place.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No, it is this radiant beacon of light I fear and the shine in the eyes of those it attracts.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I carry it hidden, close to my chest. My own mantle is not dark enough.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Three years have gone since seeing his smile<br/>
My friends are caring and the boys are kind<br/>
And his name grows old<br/>
Three years since seeing his smile<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Eärendil, behold our little boys, near 4 years of age and already so tall!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They grow too fast like we once did, spurred by mortal blood and air of war.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh Eärendil, will you not see them smile and hear them speak?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They do not know their father who gave them his eyes, with which he gazes upon the sea but not his sons.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>But look a ship, back from the sea<br/>
And look there, my lover is<br/>
Dawning warmly over me<br/>
But look a ship, back from the sea<br/>
But look a ship, back from the sea<br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>You come back to me today, yet I wonder.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>How often can you leave and how long can I wait?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I trust you shall return.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I do not trust myself to be here.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The original Welsh lyrics: </p><p>Mor ysgafn ydi hwyl y llong<br/>Fy nghalon i mor drom, mor drom<br/>Mae hi'n suddo'n araf dan y don<br/>Mor ysgafn ydi hwyl y llong</p><p>Ffarwel, ffarwel fy nghariad hoff<br/>Mae'r dagrau'n rhwydd a'r geiriau'n gloff<br/>Mi garai di lle bynnag y bof<br/>Ffarwel, ffarwel fy nghariad hoff</p><p>Pa bryd y doi di eto'n 'nol?<br/>Pa bryd y caiff dy eneth ffol<br/>Orweddian eto yn dy gol?<br/>Pa bryd y doi di eto 'nol?</p><p>Mae'r llong bach wen yn mynd yn llai<br/>Yr ofnau yma yn amlhau<br/>A drws y nos yn dechrau cau<br/>A'r llong bach wen yn mynd yn llai</p><p>Tair mlynedd sydd ers gweld ei wen<br/>Mae fy ffrindiau i'n ffeind a'r hogia'n glen<br/>A'i enw o yn tyfu'n hen<br/>Tair mlynedd sydd ers gweld ei wen</p><p>Ond dacw long yn nol o'r llif<br/>A dacw ef fy nghariad i<br/>Yn gwawrio'n gynnes arna i<br/>O dacw long yn nol o'r llif<br/>O dacw long yn nol o'r llif</p><p> </p><p>It always struck me that Elwing and Eärendil seemed a bit..."strange" in their way of being a couple and a family but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then not long ago saw a very interesting tumblr post pointing out that by elvish and even peredhel standards they were little more than teenagers when they had the twins and it just explained so much. Not to mention that none of them, and especially not Elwing, had been quite able to heal from the trauma they had gone and were still going through.</p><p>The song is Can y Llong (The Ship's Song) by Gwyneth Glyn. I recommend to give it a listen, it is as if made for Tolkien's universe. I realise this is a very short piece (that I wrote down in a fit of study procrastination induced inspiration at literally 4 am) but I hope you enjoy anyway. :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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